Understanding Stroke

In 2000, stroke patients are not common in Malaysia. By 2009, it is common to find stroke patients around us, in both urban and rural areas. If you were to carefully observe these patients, you find that they hardly smile. Stroke has taken away all their smiles and they are living in the world of their own. They have to learn to walk carefully and slowly as a fall may eventually take away their lives.

Stroke is another type of disease related to blood vessels. It is the brain equivalent of a heart attack. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is blocked, either by blood clots or narrow blood vessels or when there is bleeding in the brain. When this happens, the brain nerve cells are deprived of nutrients and they begin to die within a few minutes.

The main causes of stroke are blood clot or blockage in artery, blood vessel rupture, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Stroke is linked to diabetes and high blood pressure.

There are two types of strokes. The first is Ischemic stroke caused by a blood clot or blockages in the arteries. It is normally preceded by a TIA or mini stroke, a kind of Ischemic stroke when symptoms last the most a few hours and then disappear. The second type is haemorrhagic stroke which occurs when blood vessels rupture. Serious stroke may later lead to death.

Before a stroke occurs, the patient normally shows symptoms such as poor eye sight, numbing of arm, leg and face muscle, poor speech, difficulty in understanding others, headache, neck hardening, dizziness and loss of body control. This is normally followed by a mini stroke, a result of blood circulation problem in the brain, thus bringing about deficiency in oxygen and poor functioning of the brain.

Patients suffered from stroke show a number of symptoms: partial paralysis, difficulty in walking, easily falling down and broken bone, sensory and vision loss, problems with talking, difficulty in taking food, outflow of saliva, losing control of urine and stools, and feeling numbness. Stroke patients also normally show declining brain function, are low in spirit and have low levels of confidence. It was estimated that about 30% of the patients have to lie in bed.

The modern medicine prescribed by doctors for stroke patients is normally Ramipril. It helps to reduce high blood pressure, the chance of stroke recurrence and death.